Using Brand Archetypes to create unique digital experiences: Meet Herdl

As you begin to realize that "the way things are" in your industry doesn't serve the customers or you, do you keep your mind firmly in the present or go against the flow?

Co-founding Herdl just over five years ago. This is what co-founder Gareth Morgans had to say about the importance of productivity and brand archetypes. WordPress and .

What was the Web Agency current status you desired to challenge?

Ged (co-founder) as well as myself were both working with one of the most renowned web design firms located in Leicestershire, U.K. While everything looked shiny on the surface the truth in the back of the room was dire. There were problems across every department, but the underlying issue was that the projects were not accurately estimated. This led to the sales department slashing costs in order to secure project funding. Projects were late, they were of poor quality and the clients weren't happy.

The field of digital marketing is a highly competitive market. It is true that not every company operates in the exact same manner and there's plenty of them who make huge promises to get the job they are unable to deliver. The requirements you will find in organizations are different due to the fact that the barriers to entry very low. For customers, it may be difficult to locate an agency that is suitable for what they need.

It was quickly apparent that there was a better way to approach this.

We're a small agency in design. This allows us to control the standard of work we make. Being free of the burden of costs for employees makes it possible to select carefully what assignments we will accept, and also the firms which we partner with. We've assembled an exceptional team of specialists each member has a multi-faceted, interconnected capabilities with a unique view of each job. We do not have non-productive members of staff or senior positions, so when that customers contact us, they're talking directly to those who are actually performing their job. We're confident of collaboration with bigger companies to come in the near future. our track record shows that we are able - and have been able to succeed.

It isn't acceptable for a company to just maintain an online presence. Tell us more about what you are thinking.

What we do with our internet has dramatically changed in the past couple of years. Numerous companies will justify having an online presence by saying "we need to have an online presence" since they believed that getting online was enough. The time was when this was the norm -- in a way.

Customers today expect an exceptional experience on the internet on all platforms. Retailers, businesses and even local business should be considering ways they can offer customers all the details they need quickly and effectively. Not everyone requires a big expensive website, however there are guidelines that every website must meet. We're customers too, and we're very disappointed to find websites that do not work for smartphones! Other elements that are oft-forgotten in responsive design include accessibility, analytics and site performance.

Archetypes are essential to your brand's strategy process. What are they exactly, and how do you make use of archetypes?

These elements are distilled into a number of brand archetypes that consumers are able to identify with:

As an example, Two Chimps came to us at an early stage and had lots of thoughts about how they could design their brand and what offerings they could offer. The archetype of the brand was employed to provide the team with a clear direction and help us narrow down the different options available. Selecting an archetype of the company that could appeal to the intended audience allowed us to differentiate between individual preferences and tastes, developing a unique identity for the brand as a whole.

In the case of Two Chimps, we all agreed to use The Explorer. After that, we developed an information sheet to guide us through every step of the way from concept through integration and testing of the content. This is something that we always refer to. Our sheet contained details such as what we thought was the motivation behind choosing the archetype we chose the purpose, vision and mission statements as well as the purpose of the value proposition as well as the brand's essentials, as well as guidelines regarding personality and tone of voice.

Another instance of one of the 12 archetypes of brands could represent The Outlaw. Objective: To break the law and question authority. Characteristics are: Iconoclastic insurgent wild and opening the way for changes. Drawback has the drawback that it may get too extreme and then be considered negative. market specialization as an agent of change advocate for those less privileged let people be vocal or defy traditional norms. Example: Harley-Davidson, Virgin (Richard Branson).

What are the factors that make WordPress the most popular platform?

Our bottom-line reason for choosing WordPress is the ease to use it by users managing their own website. As a content management system that's easy to navigate, WordPress provides a simple and intuitive interface, which enables users to personalize the system for every project on an individual basis.

We've developed our own flavor of WordPress using workflow concepts that come from community forums like Roots along with third-party plugins such Advanced Custom Fields and Gravity Forms in addition to custom enhancements. It's given us the flexibility needed to develop and create a unique experience for our customers.

Additionally, we want our customers to join forces with us to ensure that they're happy with our work without being tied into exclusive software. WordPress is an open source software that gives clients the freedom to select whoever they prefer to build and manage their websites.

With regards to eCommerce, what time and what time should you use of it ?

The project will be managed right from the beginning to completion, or even over. What are the most important issues that arise at the beginning of each project?

The process of securing an idea during the initial inquiry phase is difficult. Based on a limited amount of information that we have to analyze the current and potential requirements and then quickly articulate our concepts. Most of our sites are created for clients who go on to do marketing tasks, so knowing the bigger picture of their current activities, competitive trends and market conditionseverything that needs to be considered.

The clients we work with are monitored closely and are involved in all phases. We've observed that no matter how hard we try, it's not easy to create a complete picture, so maintaining strong communications, as well as incorporating specific checkpoints helps us to take feedback on board and improve our understanding.

It is your opinion that SEO must be at the heart of the entire digital marketing plan. What is that in Herdl's growth plan as well as for clients that you partner with?

There is a wide range of marketing strategies available online and an effective strategy should comprise a mixture of sources and techniques. The results of our research have revealed an effective SEO strategy. SEO can be a very effective tool to generate leads. It is vital for drawing fresh inquiries at an international scale.

Which are your three best suggestions for an eCommerce departmental leader within your own department?

Start by having a detailed plan of action. If you're one of the people setting the goals or one more senior within your organization has to set them, you'll need to have a clear idea of what goals you want to achieve.

The second is to ensure that you have accurate analytics that track your progress. It's crucial to track your progress against the targets that you've established, and after that, analyze your measures to figure out why things are going well (so that you're able to perform better) or the reason the reason something doesn't work (so you can alter the situation). It is essential to arm your self with the right information before you are reporting to your supervisor and, with no analysis, and a plan for analysis, you'll be operating in the darkness.

Thirdly, work with other members of the organization. We often see internal teams that are all-single, working without a partner. It's simple for anyone to be working with her head down and also the information and data to become scattered across various sectors. If you share your expertise, it will allow you to develop other areas within your business and get valuable information in return.

It's not uncommon to be told that a site " does not scale." It's been a while since you've created high-performing corporate sites using Woo and now what's your comeback?

Performance of websites is an important consideration for us since it will have an impact on the work that we perform in marketing. There haven't been any issues in the growth of our website  in the past, so we don't see this as a limitation of the process.

Our recommendation? Don't be cheap in hosting. Be sure to be very careful about your hosting quality! Our method of tuning the performance is comprised of a range of methods, such as caching, file and image optimization, as well as an efficient hosting infrastructure. Our experience in this particular area will set us apart from other design companies and is the reason for us to have won numerous design awards for performance.

The tuning of performance we perform employs a range of methods such as caching, image and optimization of files along with an effective hosting infrastructure.

Do you have any WordPress plugins or extensions that you can recommend?

We employ a limited quantity of plugins for our work.

• Short Pixel is a great tool to compress images as well as optimizing them. Images on eCommerce websites typically increase the size of the site, and we advise making them as effective as possible.
• Advanced Custom Fields is essential in any undertaking, and helps us modify and simplify the administration process to our clients.
• We also utilize Yoast SEO to carry out a substantial part of the SEO on-page tasks we carry out. There's also a Yoast premium extension that is helpful for optimizing products and pages that are categorized.

What do you like most regarding digital commerce? what's the next step for Herdl?

We're always excited by any challenge. Our belief is that the biggest problem for online commerce currently is on mobile. Our team is devoted to designing websites that operate across every platform, and we enjoy applying our knowledge and expertise to craft stunning shopping experiences that are optimized that are optimized for mobile phones.

Our experience has been that we've introduced more animation and frontend options into projects we're working on, and believe that this is an area we'd like to pursue further. In particular, SVG animation presents an chance to create new and innovative dynamic loading effects, which make our sites exciting and interesting.

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We would like to thank Gareth for taking the time on this interview. Keep an eye on Herdl.com for their latest news along with successful stories.

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